Most Google Adsense publishers are not aware that Adsense has a Premium Publisher Program for the elite few — called such because not all websites can apply or be invited to the program.
The Premium Publisher Program is exclusive to websites that receive more than 5 million search queries or 20 million page views per month. When a site hits that mark, Google normally sends an invitation to the site to become a Premium Publisher.
What do Premium Publishers get? Apparently, a lot of the good stuff not available to “normal” Adsense publishers.
Take a look at how Google pampers their Premium Publishers.
Larger Clickable Ad Unit
Adsense recently shrunk the clickable areas of the ad units, but looking at the ads served on premium publisher sites About.com and Engadget.com, it looks like they are immune from the change. The text area of the ads on premium publisher sites are still clickable as opposed to the smaller clickable areas on non-premium ad units such as our website.
More Adsense Units
According to Google Adsense Program Policies, a site can only have a maximum of three ad units. But if you head over to Engadget.com, you will see that they have at least eight (8) ad units on the homepage. There’s one after the second post (1), another after the third (1) , fourth (1), sixth (1), tenth (1), and also the fifteenth post (1), and additional two (2) ad units on the right sidebar. Eight ad units!
Flexible Ad Formats
Premium clients are not limited by the ad formats provided by Google Adsense. They are free to customize the font sizes, styles, and color schemes of their ad units. More customization, better optimization, higher income. Yay!
Customized Revenue-Sharing
Normal Adsense publishers usually don’t have a say in the revenue-sharing agreement, but premium publishers can negotiate their percentage share in the ad revenues. Talk about bargaining power.
Dedicated Account Manager
Premium publishers are also assigned a dedicated Google representative who helps optimize the site for better performance. That’s what we call VIP treatment.
Optional Ad Labeling
Premium Adsense publishers have the prerogative to remove the “Ads by Google” label. They are also not required to mark the units as ads, as opposed to Adsense’s common policy of marking the units as “Sponsored Links” or “Advertisements.” Removing the ad label certainly helps increase the click-through rate (CTR).
More Ad Inventory
Some ads appear only and exclusively on premium publisher sites. The sites also receive ad inventory which may be off-limits to ordinary publishers, such as sex- or casino-related advertisements. Non-premium publishers might get Public Service Ads on content pages that contain sex or casino information, but the same pages in premium publisher sites can be filled with paid ads.
It definitely is an achievement to belong to the elite few while enjoying the rewards of being an Adsense Premium Publisher. So if you want to become a premium publisher soon, start working now to reach 5 million search queries or 20 million pageviews a month on your site!
